A Promise Is a Promise
by JustTheQueenOfEverything
Summary: Brittany had a bat and was about to swing if Santana hadn't stopped her. Quinn's day could have been worse.


It was faint, barely noticeable—that small scraping sound, but God if she wasn't a light sleeper and had bionic hearing in the night. Santana couldn't move much, currently being held by strong and lanky arms. Sometimes Brittany had a grip that was so tight, Santana wondered if it was some unconscious possessiveness or if she was simply that strong. Even so, the noise continued along the outside of the house below the window, getting closer and closer.

Santana wasn't having it. She knew it wasn't rain or any natural occurrence like that nor could it have been an animal because her room was located on the second story. There was a chance that it was tree branched scrapping against the side of the house, but the Latina didn't remember anything about heavy wind on the news.

Her eyes were wide open in the dark staring at the window on the opposite side of the room. Eventually, the noises went away, the only sounds being made were Brittany's soft snoring along with Stitch's occasional whimpering. Santana settled back into her pillow, allowing her girlfriend to wrap her arms around her tighter.

Not even three minutes after getting comfortable was there a loud tapping against the window that caused Santana to sit straight up, breaking out of Brittany's hold and waking her up in the process.

"Wassat?" the blonde mumbled as she rubbed at her closed eyes, trying to get the sleep out so she could open them properly. "San, what are you doing?"

"Something tapped the window, Britt, I heard it."

Due to the thick black curtains, neither girl could see if there was actually something or someone tapping the glass, but Santana knew there was _something_ out there. The brunette cursed herself for watching that scary movie only hours before, even when she knew they made her jumpy. Brittany simply faced her girlfriend and shook her head in the dark. "You're just imagining things. Go back to sleep."

"But-"

"We're not watching anymore scary movies before we go to bed," Brittany stated as firmly as possible without yawning. The blonde's head hit the pillow as she tugged on her girlfriend's sleeve, pulling her down beside her. The brunette shot one last look at the window before complying and laying down, allowing Brittany to embrace her again. It wasn't long before Santana felt warm breath against her collarbone, followed by nasally vibrations.

Then, there was one loud bang.

Santana was the first to shoot out of the bed and onto her feet. "Told you!" she hissed. Stitch hadn't moved an inch and was currently giving dogs one hell of a bad name. The puppy should have been jumping around and barking up a storm, not all knocked out in his bed.

There was more tapping and Brittany was beginning to freak out, flinging the comforter off of her. "Shit, San. What do we do?"

Santana had to think fast. "Grab the bat under your side of the bed," she ordered. While Brittany did that, she looked around hastily, looking for something, anything to defend herself with. The Latina opted for the first thing she saw: her bible.

"Did you the leave the window unlocked?" Brittany asked, not even questioning Santana's choice of weapon that was visible in the moonlight.

"Damned if I remember." Santana knew for sure that she had opened the window after she and Brittany finished having sexytimes, and then closed it when they were done watching Paranormal Activity. Whether or whether not she locked it had completely slipped her mind.

The window cracking open certainly addressed their suspicion.

"Ohhhhhh damn."

Brittany told Santana not to panic and cocked the metal baseball bat back. Whoever was dumb enough to try to break in tonight of all nights was about to get it. "Next time Santana, remember to lock the window and turn the alarm _on_."

It was times like this, when Brittany was the assertive one, when Santana always felt foolish. In school, she would have put up a good facade, so everyone would know she was Santana Fucking Lopez: HBIC—whereas opposed to here, where Brittany was the one ready to whoop ass while she gripped onto a book she didn't even read. It was pathetic.

"I know. I know. Just…when they come through, I'll turn the light on and you just start swinging." It seemed like a good enough plan. If the light was on, Brittany would have had a better idea of where and who she was hitting. Then Santana could get her phone and call the police. Perfect.

Finally, the window pushed up and both girls could see a human figure. Whoever it was were dumb enough to dive in head first. At that moment, Santana flipped the light switch on while Brittany crept in closer, ready to knock fire from the intruder.

Then, Santana caught sight of pink hair. "Brittany, wait!"

The dancer caught herself mid-swing and lowered the bat when the person fully entered the room. "Quinn?"

Santana dropped her bible with sudden aggravation. "What the hell, Q? Brittany was about to tear you up! You know she has a good arm."

The Latina's words went right over Quinn's head, though. Her hair was a wild mess as were her clothes, and Brittany noticed that her eyes were red. "Quinn," the blonde said softly as she took a step closer to her friend, "What's wrong?"

"It's my dad," she answered almost immediately. "He must have heard about how I changed my look from someone and just popped up out of nowhere. He and my mom are talking right now."

Santana looked at the clock on her dresser, "It's five in the morning. The man couldn't wait until the sun came up?" The brunette was done with the situation already and took a good look at her puppy, which still hadn't moved an inch. She sighed, moving to sit on the end of the bed to get a better view of her friends. "Tell us what the hell is going on."

"I don't really know. He probably thinks I'm turning into some Gothic antichrist or so something," she said. "My mom doesn't like my new look either and now both of them are probably thinking of ways to turn me back into a good Christian daughter while rekindling old flames. This ain't good!"

Brittany tossed the bat to the side and sat next to Santana while Quinn paced back and forth in front of them. "So, you're scared she might take your dad back?"

She nodded.

"That's bullshit, Quinn. Judy isn't dumb enough to take him back."

"Yeah, but its _Russell_," Quinn stressed. "He's one of the most conniving men on the planet. He'll probably feed her some crap about how the lack of a father figure in my life is causing me to act out or some shit like that. My mom will eat it up and he'll gradually creep his way back into the house and my life will be a living hell again."

"Whatever happened to 'hell is so hot right now?'" Santana sneered.

Quinn snarled right back at her, "Screw you."

"Maybe you should give your mom a little more credit," Brittany insisted. "I'm sure she doesn't even care about what he has to say and is only being polite."

Santana looked to her girlfriend lovingly before placing her head on her shoulder. "Britt's right. You should have stayed home to eavesdrop instead on coming all the way over here and scaring the hell out of us."

"Mostly Santana."

"Yes, thank you, Brittany."

Quinn scratched the back of her head, a clear sign of her frustration. She had been having a hard enough time dealing with Beth being back in her life and both Puck and Rachel trying to connect with her on a more personal level. Now she had to put up with her father being back in the picture to wreak havoc. It all was too overwhelming. "I got too much going on right now."

Santana snorted like it was the dumbest thing Quinn had ever said, "You always got too much going on."

"Maybe you shouldn't worry about it now," Brittany suggested as she nibbled on her fingernails. "It's too early. We should all just go back to sleep."

"We who?" Santana asked, not liking where her girlfriend was hinting at.

"_We_, as in all _three_of us." And that was the end of it. Santana sighed and went to close the window, snapping the lock shut. Right as she was about to hope into the bed, Brittany nodded towards the bedroom door, signaling for her to go downstairs and set the alarm. The brunette rolled her eyes before leaving the room and treading downstairs, her footsteps echoing through the house.

"Whipped," Quinn mumbled under her breath before focusing on the blonde before her, "You don't mind me staying?"

Brittany shook her head, "Of course not, Quinn. Take off your shoes and jeans and hop in the bed. There's plenty of room for all three of us."

Quinn nodded and kicked off her shoes before stripping herself on her pants. Santana came back into the room, switching the light off as she did so, and announced that the house was secure and Emmanuel was still sleeping, unaffected by any of the commotion they made.

Brittany was the first one to get into the bed, claiming her position on the left side. Santana slid in after her, snuggling into a pillow on the right side, leaving the middle of the bed open for Quinn, which was usually always her place when the three slept in the same bed. That way, Quinn never had to worry about the two doing anything inappropriate when she was mere inches away.

But Quinn was wise enough to seize herself before hopping in, "Wait…did you two, you know, have sex earlier?"

"…Maybe you should sleep with Stitch," Brittany suggested.

Quinn took a good look at the four-month-old Golden Retriever Brittany found roaming around her back yard just a few weeks ago. The blonde practically begged Santana to keep it seeing as though her cats were very territorial, and being the whipped girlfriend Santana was, she actually kept it. Stitch was cute and all, but it didn't change the fact that he was a drooling dog.

"I'll take my chances," Quinn risked as she crawled in between her two friends, allowing Brittany to spoon her while Santana backed into her a little. Before sleep could consume her, there was something in the back of the pink-haired girl's mind. "Santana?"

"What?" the Latina mumbled.

"Where you really going to hit me with a bible if you hadn't figured out who I was?"

"Over and over again."

XXXX

Hours later, the three were still in bed, all huddled into each other, Brittany spooning Quinn a bit more lethargically while Santana lay on her stomach with one arm hanging off the bed. The sun coming through the window was hitting them hard, Quinn mostly, but none of them were willing to get up for any reason. It was a Sunday and they were going to make the most of it.

That all changed when Emmanuel, Santana's eight-year-old little brother, barged into the room. The action was weak, but managed to make his big sister force an eye open. For a second, Santana thought it was Quinn trying to scare her, until she caught sight of plaid pajama pants in front of her. Opening her eyes fully, Santana took a good look at her brother, who stared back at her with a smile on his face. "Santana, get up."

Santana groaned and turned her head the other way, trying to force her eyes closed. "Not now, Manny; go back to bed."

"But you promised you would take me to the mall today," the boy whined while shaking his sister's arm.

She shrugged him off and turned to look at him, "It's too early to go to the mall."

"It's noon, they've been open for two hours!" Emmanuel hissed quietly as to not disturb the other two sleeping girls. "Come on San, all the good stuff is gonna be taken if we don't hurry."

"The video games and hi-tops can wait, Emmanuel. They're not going anywhere."

The boy huffed and crossed his arms over his chest angrily, "But you promised."

"A promise is a promise, Santana," Quinn, who had woken during their squabbling, yawned. She rubbed her eyes using the back of her hand and sat up, reaching her arm over Santana's body to ruffle Emmanuel's curly hair. "Isn't that right, Emmanuel?"

"Damn straight."

Quinn giggled and slowly lifted Brittany's limp arm from her waist, crawling over an aggravated Latina and heading towards the bathroom. Brittany, who was semi-awake, wasn't too fond of the empty space and pulled herself closer to the nearest body, which happened to be her girlfriend's. A content smile appeared on Santana's face from obviously missing the blonde's touch.

Emmanuel, however, wasn't amused. "Are we going or not?"

"Not right now-"

Brittany stopped Santana mid-sentence with a hard bite to the shoulder. The brunette yelped and made an attempt to push her girlfriend off, not wanting her little brother to see any of this, but Brittany's grip was so tight it could cut off circulation. The blonde pressed lazy morning kisses along her shoulder to the back of her neck, all in attempt to subdue the girl.

"Britt…Manny is in the room…stop-"

"Last night when you wanted sexytimes, you told Emmanuel that if he left us alone you would take him to do whatever he wanted the next day. It's the next day," Brittany whispered in her ear. "You promised."

"A promise is a promise!" Quinn's voice raged from the bathroom, followed by a flush. Santana wanted to choke her.

Brittany smiled against Santana's neck, "Santana?"

Outnumbered, the brunette knew she wouldn't win. She shut her eyes and sunk into the bed in defeat. Emmanuel didn't understand the gesture, but Brittany simply ruffled his hair, "Go get ready."

The boy pumped his fist in the air in victory before marching out of the room. Quinn re-entered the room and went straight to Stitch. She kneeled down and went to rubbing the sleeping puppy behind the ears, slowly waking him up. The puppy woke with a yawn, stretching his tongue and showing his teeth. His dark eyes took a good look at the girl who woke him before closing his eyes again.

Quinn shook her head, "Laziest puppy alive."

"You would think he'd be a little more enthusiastic seeing as though Britt saved him from a life on the streets," Santana said as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Stitch isn't a morning person, that's all," Brittany defended.

Once Santana was finished with her afternoon stretches, she rolled off the bed and went to her dresser to grab her phone. There was only one message, from her dad. Clearly, it wasn't too important; otherwise he would have tried to call a few times. Watching Santana fiddle with her phone, Quinn remembered hers and how her mom probably had been trying to reach her the moment she noticed her daughter was gone. While the two did their thing, Brittany whistled to Stitch, who dragged himself to his feet and hopped onto the bed and into the blonde's lap.

"Quinn," the dancer cooed, "Your ass looks amazing in those cute heart panties."

The pink-haired girl blushed, ignoring the Latina's jealous side-glare, "Uh, thanks, Brittany."

"Okay here's the deal," Santana announced, trying to change the subject before it got too personal, "I'm spending the day with Manny because he needs it. Our dad sucks and never pays attention to him so that's that. Britt, you're coming, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. And Q, you're coming too because you need some time away from your family right now."

Quinn didn't even attempt to put up a fight, only nodding and starting to text her mom. Santana had her moments when she was a bitch who cared and she couldn't help but love it. "Yeah, you're right."

Santana scoffed, "Of course I am. Now take a shower and wear some of my clothes; I still have bras from before my boob job so you don't have to worry about calling up the Itty Bitty Titty Committee for assistance. Britt and I will start breakfast or lunch or whatever."

Brittany clapped happily and tumbled off the bed, dropping Stitch as she did so. "Can we have pancakes?"

"You can have whatever you want," Santana smiled as she jogged to her girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek. The two linked pinkies and made their way out the door, Stitch slugging behind them, leaving Quinn to her own devices. She finally sent her message to her mom, telling her where she was and that she was okay. Not more did two minutes later did she get a reply from Judy, something that made her stomach drop.

_I'm having coffee with your dad. Don't worry, we're just talking, it's nothing serious._

Quinn read the message over a dozen times, the text becoming more unbelievable each time. It was happening. Russell was using that coy Fabray charm that got Judy to fall for him the first time. She knew it. As if Quinn didn't have enough on her plate as it was, now she had to deal with her father. She sighed.

"Santana better have bacon, that's all I got to say."

XXXX

Emmanuel sat at the table, fully dressed and gnawing on the end of his fork. In the chair next to him was Santana, who was looking up real estate in Tribeca on her laptop and waiting for Brittany to finish feeding Stitch and bring their coffee. The Latina was beginning to have second thoughts about her choice of region seeing as though the prices were insane. They'd save more money living in a cardboard box.

"I don't know about these eggs, Santana," Emmanuel joked as he examined the fully cooked yolk, "I think your culinary skills are slipping."

"You wanna go to the mall or not?"

"Did I say slipping? I meant off the chain."

Santana rolled her eyes at her brother's foolishness and gave up on Tribeca. Instead, she started up on her research on children. Unbeknownst to Brittany, now that the two were officially together, all Santana could focus on was getting out of Lima and starting a family with her; buying a house, marriage, kids. Of course all of this would happen after college and once they were happy with their careers and all that, but it was never too early to look into.

"What do you think, Emmanuel," Santana started as she scrolled through articles on adoption, "Do you think Britt and I should adopt or get artificially inseminated?"

"What did you say?"

The brunette looked up hurriedly to see Brittany leaning in the kitchen door frame, coffee mugs in both hands and blue eyes focused on brown ones. Santana's jaw was on the floor. She didn't want Brittany to know about any of the family stuff, at least not so soon. "Uh…I didn't say anything," she lied.

The blonde shook her head as she set the coffee on the table and stepped closer to her. "Yeah you did, you said-"

Santana sprung from her seat, brushing past her while mumbling something incoherent. Maybe denying it would make Brittany drop the subject she wouldn't have to explain herself. In the kitchen, Santana trolled around for anything to do in order to make herself look busy.

Unfortunately that wasn't going to work. Brittany followed her girlfriend, practically on her heels. The dancer grabbed onto a tan arm and stopped Santana's quick movements. The Latina tensed up, knowing Brittany had caught her and there was no way out. Barely using any strength, Brittany pressed her girlfriend up against the counter, pushing her body against hers and pinning her hands to the counter surface.

"Brittany, let me go," Santana said though she wasn't even putting up a struggle.

The blonde brought her lips to a very flushed ear, whispering, "You want to have kids with me." Santana could tell from her tone that it wasn't a question.

"Britt, I-"

"Don't lie to me. Say it. Tell me that you want to have kids with me."

Santana couldn't deny herself, Brittany wouldn't allow it. "I w-want to have kids with you."

That was all she needed to hear. Leaning forward, Brittany closed the gap between them by forcing her lips onto Santana's quivering ones. She instantly accepted the kiss and didn't hesitate to let Brittany shove her tongue in and drag it around however she liked.

"God, I hope you two weren't doing that over the bacon."

For once, it was Brittany who groaned and shot their intruder a dirty look. Normally this would surprise Quinn, but the girl was too busy getting tender with a plate full of bacon to notice or care.

"Fuck Q, this whole intruder thing is getting old," Santana spat after Brittany let her free. "Shouldn't you be crying over your dad or some shit like that that doesn't interrupt sexytimes?"

Quinn shrugged and took a huge bite from her bacon strip, "Let's not worry about that."

"Well on the other hand, you looking mighty cute in those jeans, Quinn," Brittany commented, a bit stimulated from the almost make-out session she and Santana were about to get into. Of course once Quinn got out of the shower she threw on some of Santana's clothes (successfully avoiding the skin-tight dresses and fur). She settled for the darkest pair of skinny jeans she could find and a simple black t-shirt. Anything that went with her new look, she wasn't picky.

"Thanks, Brittany," Quinn smiled while pushing herself off the counter. "I'll just leave you two to your own devices," she said and left the kitchen, making sure to take her bacon with her.

A second after she left the kitchen, Quinn automatically heard banging and moaning. Those two couldn't keep it in their pants to save their lives. Whatever, she had her bacon and that was all that mattered at the moment. Quinn plopped her plate on the table, sitting across from Emmanuel who was currently shoveling pancakes down his throat. She couldn't help but wonder where he put it all.

"You know," the boy mumbled with a mouth full of food, "You could have used the front door this morning."

The former blonde smirked while using her fork to stab Emmanuel's last untouched syrup-covered pancake and lift it over to her plate, much to his protest. "What difference does it make to you? You sleep through everything."

"I have to! They're always…_getting naked_together. I don't want to hear that every other night!"

Quinn didn't blame him. She knew from experience that Santana and Brittany could get pretty loud, and at any time of the day, almost anywhere. Nobody was safe these days when they were around. Emmanuel was one hell of a trooper, she had to admit.

"I feel your pain."

"I bet you do," he quipped as he watched Quinn devour his stolen pancake.

The next thing the two heard were footsteps practically stomping up the stairs followed by flirtatious laughter. Next was the sound of a door shutting and a shower cutting on. Only a fool wouldn't understand what was going on here.

"Wonderful," Quinn murmured.

Emmanuel seemed the most irritated. "At this point I'll never get my hands on Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Do promises mean nothing to people anymore?"

Unfortunately, they didn't. These days people very seldom followed the words they spoke. Words like 'promise' and 'oath' and 'vow' were often tossed aside or ignored. It was harder on the kids, once they realized promises were meaningless as they grew older. Sure, in this situation it was a simple trip to the mall, but even then it was a promise not being lived up to its expectation.

Quinn examined the small boy in front of her. There wasn't much about him that was really significant—he was basically a male mini version of Santana: tan, brunette, deep dark eyes, enough attitude to scar someone for life. What did always stand out to Quinn though, was his hair. It was long and shaggy, not well groomed. With hair like that, one would wonder why Emmanuel never bothered to cut it or even make an attempt to pull it into a ponytail. It was always something she thought about when she saw him.

"Emmanuel, why don't you ever cut your hair?"

He shrugged, "Our dad doesn't spend too much time with me because he's so busy at the hospital all the time. Santana tells me to grow my hair long because he hates it when it's long and will take me to get a haircut when he has the time. When my hair is short, we know he's been paying attention to me."

"…Oh, well-"

"I guess we both have daddy problems, huh?"

Quinn leaned back in her chair, running her hands through her hair. "Yeah, I guess we do." Emmanuel nodded and went back to finishing what was left on his plate. The boy made a damn good point. Quinn's dad was an ass and his dad was neglectful. There was an unsaid bond between them right then and there. "Hey, Emmanuel?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's be real here; Santana and Brittany are gonna be in the shower for a while, so…how about I take you to the mall?"

Emmanuel's face lit up, "Really?"

"Grab Santana's credit card from her purse on the couch. We'll take my car and you can get whatever you want."

Rebel Quinn was back in effect, snatching children and looting wallets. Damned if she already knew the kid and Santana could give a fuck about a stolen credit card, the bitch was rebelling. Russell could go to hell.

"Can I drive?"

"You can sit in the passenger's seat and watch me drive."

Emmanuel shook his head, "Man, I thought you were a rebel. You shame the pink hair."

"Go get in the car before I smack you."

"But I don't even know where you parked-"

Quinn raised her hand, "You 'bout to get smacked."

"I'm going, I'm going!"

XXXX

Quinn was right when she said Brittany and Santana were going to be a while. Not only had the two been getting it on for forty minutes in the shower, but they engaged in some post-shower sex romping on Santana's bed after the fact. By the time they decided enough was enough and dressed themselves to go downstairs an hour later, they couldn't help but realize Quinn and Emmanuel were long gone.

"Wow. How long do you think they've been gone?" Brittany asked.

"Judging by how long we took, Quinn's wannabe rebellion shit, and Manny's impatience: I'm guessing the moment we ran upstairs." Now Santana felt shitty. She never got to spend time with her brother because her mom and his mom practically hated each other. And this one weekend where she managed to get him to come over, she wastes it getting freaky with her girlfriend when she should have been spending every second with him.

Brittany felt pretty bad too, but her guilt was slowly shattered when she caught a certain Golden Retriever, laid out on his back smack-dab in the center of the kitchen table, clearly dormant after feasting on the scraps Emmanuel and Quinn left behind.

"This mutt is worse than Tubbington."

"He can't help that he likes human food," Brittany defended, jogging to the puppy and rubbing his full belly. When Santana took the dog in, this was certainly not how she expected him to act. Brittany sure had a knack for picking out the looniest pets.

The doorbell rang, stopping Santana from bumping Stitch off the table. She stomped to the door. "That better be you, Fabray!"

It was a Fabray alright, but not the one Santana had expected. "Hello, Santana."

"Ms. Fabray?"

The older woman smiled and nodded, "Can I come in?"

The Latina wasn't sure if she wanted that. The Fabrays were crafty people and she never could fully trust them, Quinn included. But now was not the time to be rude, "Uh, sure." Santana stepped aside and allowed her guest to enter her home. Brittany emerged from the dining room and immediately ran up to Judy to hug her. Judy happily accepted the hug and greeted her.

"What are you doing here, Judy?" Brittany chirped. Santana had been wondering the same thing. The brunette hadn't seen the woman in years and it wasn't like their families were all that close anymore. Judy personally being here, it must have been something important.

"Well actually I'm looking for Quinn. She told she was here this morning and I need to talk to her."

That made sense. Last Santana checked, the blonde wasn't too happy with her mother. Shit, she wouldn't be too happy either if she found out her dad was trying to put the moves back on her mom. "We've been looking for Quinn, too."

"You mean she's not here?"

"If anything she probably went to the-"

The front door opened and in came Quinn and Emmanuel, both carrying bags and chuckling together. Quinn's smile, however, dwindled the instant she saw her mother staring back at her. Emmanuel looked the strange woman up and down, not able to become familiar with a thing about her. "Who are you?" he asked like he had the right to know.

"I'm Quinn's mom," Judy replied, ignoring the boy's behavior with adults. The answer was enough for Emmanuel, who shrugged and took all the bags—Quinn's included—into the living room to give the four women whatever time they needed.

Quinn took the new shades she bought off to seem like less of an ass, "Mom?"

"I know I should have called first," Judy started, Santana nodded vaguely in agreement, "but I didn't want to wait any longer than necessary."

"I have a feeling Judy is about to come out of the closet," Brittany whispered into Santana's ear. Santana actually had to hold back a giggle at that one because the possibilities weren't too farfetched. No matter how much she tried to hide it, Quinn oozed gay, especially now. Brittany always said like mother like daughter.

Unfortunately, the mother and daughter shot the couple a look, hinting that their presence wasn't needed. Santana was the most offended seeing as though it was her house and be damned if she let two Fabrays run loose. Before she could speak on it, Brittany tugged her girlfriend's arm and dragged her to the living room, mumbling something about seeing what Emmanuel was up to.

Once the coast was clear, Judy took it upon herself to explain her being here. "Quinnie, listen. I know you probably want to know what your dad and I talked about this morning."

"No, I'm pretty positive you were talking about me," Quinn quipped.

"Yes, well, Russell seems to think that your '_transformation_', as he put it, is from a lack fatherly discipline. He expressed how we both were losing our faith and the only way to regain it was if he came back into our lives and made us a traditional family again."

Not a bit of this news sounded pleasant to Quinn, "Oh God, mom, tell me you didn't fall for his crap."

"Of course not!" she said. "I told him that you had a right to be whatever you wanted to be, whether it was a good Christian daughter or a pink-haired punk rocker, no matter how much he dislikes it. When you moved back in after you had Beth I promised you I would never let your father get between us again."

"A promise is a promise!" Emmanuel hollered from the couch.

Quinn smiled while her mother just looked confused, but she couldn't help but smile also. "So, you're not getting back with dad?" Quinn asked.

Judy made a disgusted face, "Oh _God_, no."

Quinn beamed and ran up to her mother, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing as hard as humanly possible. Judy awkwardly hugged her child back, and fought back a tear.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you, too, Quinnie."

After the pair said their goodbyes, Quinn strolled into the living with the rest of her crew. There were new clothes and shoe boxes scattered everywhere. Emmanuel sat on the couch, controller in hand and lost in his game. Brittany and Santana were cuddled up a few inches away from him, Brittany wearing the red beanie with pink hearts and ball on the top Quinn picked out for her. Emmanuel was actually allowing Santana to give him advice on who he should let Ezio kill or not, so she guessed the boy wasn't upset about not going to the mall with his sister.

Brittany noticed Quinn first, "How did it go with your mom, Quinn?"

Like they weren't listening. "Everything's good," she answered as she plopped down in the armchair, her legs dangling over the armrest. Brittany and Santana were nuzzling, Emmanuel was gaming, Stitch was still one lazy motherfucker, and her dad was no longer an issue.

Her day could have been worse.


End file.
